MORNING
Psalm
131
B1 What does this mean?
C1 This is a Psalm of honesty.
C2 He is not bragging about doing or being right. He is just telling
the truth. People can use the same words but have a different
attitude and motive for those words. Telling the truth with a humble
attitude is important.
C3 He has quieted himself. This is because of his hope in God to help
him. Psalms 42:5 NRSV Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why
are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise
him, my help
C4 Because God has helped him, the Psalmist (David) urges others to
do the same.
C5 Matthew 11:29-30 NRSV Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me;
for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your
souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
B2 How do I apply this to my life? Be honest. Have the right attitude
and motives. Give God the credit for His help. Tell others how God
has helped us.
EVENING
John
19
B1 What does this mean?
C1 Jesus and Pilate
D1 Note how Jesus does not retaliate.
D2 Note how Pilate mistakenly thought that if Jesus was abused, beat,
whipped, mocked, etc., the Jews would think that would be enough.
D3 Note how the Jewish leaders, etc. only wanted to kill God.
D4 Note how Pilate declared Jesus not having committed any crime that
would justify being whipped or killed.
D5 Note how the Jewish leaders and their followers lust for blood.
D6 Note the absence of truth and justice.
D7 Note how the government, religion, and society was corrupt. They
were not following God’s ways.
D8 Verse 11, Jesus teaches that some sins are more evil than others
and that God considers the motives as well.
D9 Verse 14, the Preparation Day before the Passover was Friday. The
sixth hour was approximately 0600.
D10 Note how these Jew gave their final rejection of Messiah. They
hated God, God’s ways, God’s beliefs, God’s laws, God’s
worldview, God’s lifestyle, God’s plans, God’s promises, etc.
C2 Jesus Is Crucified
D1 Verse 20, note near the city, not in the city.
D2 Note how they still hated Jesus in their complaining about the
sign over Jesus’s head.
D3 After Jesus was dead, I wonder if the people rejoiced as will
happen in the future when the 2 witnesses were dead? Revelation
11:7-10 LEB And when they have completed their testimony, the
beast that comes up from the abyss will make war with them and will
conquer them and will kill them. 8 And their dead bodies will lie in
the street of the great city which is called symbolically Sodom and
Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. 9 And those from peoples
and tribes and languages and nations will see their dead bodies three
and a half days, and they will not allow their dead bodies to be
placed in a tomb. 10 And those who live on the earth will rejoice
over them, and will celebrate and will send gifts to one another,
because these two prophets tormented those who live on the earth.
D4 I wonder too if the Jewish leaders and their followers had great
fear after the report came that Jesus was gone from the tomb just as
He prophesied. He is risen. Revelation 11:11 LEB And after the
three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered into them,
and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw
them.
D5 Verse 25, note who are the witnesses.
C3 Jesus Dies
D1 Verse 28, all things have been completed. Jesus in the midst of
suffering for our sins still keeps His composure to know the
Scriptures and fulfill them.
D2 Verse 29, vinegar without myrrh or gall which had been refused
already.
D3 Verse 30, a shout of victory. Compare: Matthew 27:50 HCSB Jesus
shouted again with a loud voice and gave up His spirit. His
victory is our victory, too. Thank you, Lord Jesus for being our
Passover Lamb.
D4 Jesus had to yield His spirit to die, because He is sinless and
not deserving. Clarke adds:
Every man, since the fall, has not only been liable to death, but
has deserved it; as all have forfeited their lives because of sin.
Jesus Christ, as born immaculate, and having never sinned, had not
forfeited his life, and therefore may be considered as naturally and
properly immortal. No man, says he, taketh it, my life, from me, but
I lay it down of myself: I have power to lay it down, and I have
power to take it again; therefore doth the Father love me, because I
lay down my life that I might take it again, John 10:17-18,. Hence we
rightly translate Matthew 27:50, αφηκε το
πνευμα, he gave up the ghost; i.e. he dismissed his spirit,
that he might die for the sin of the world.
D5 Verse 31, Barnes writes: Was an high day. It was,
1st. The Sabbath.
2nd. It was the day on which the paschal feast properly commenced.
It was called a high day because that year the feast of the Passover
commenced on the Sabbath. Greek, "Great day."
D6 Note that John is an eye witness
C4 Jesus Is Buried
C5 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 NRSV For I handed on to you as of first
importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins
in accordance with the scriptures, 4 and that he was buried, and
that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the
scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the
twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers
and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some
have died. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the
apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared
also to me.
C6 Colossians 2:12-14 GNB For when you were baptized, you
were buried with Christ, and in baptism you were also raised with
Christ through your faith in the active power of God, who raised him
from death. 13 You were at one time spiritually dead because of
your sins and because you were Gentiles without the Law. But God has
now brought you to life with Christ. God forgave us all our sins;
14 he canceled the unfavorable record of our debts with its
binding rules and did away with it completely by nailing it to the
cross.
B2 How do I apply this to my life? Let us be careful not to reject
God’s ways today.
I
hope
to have a devotional every day on John’s
Gospel starting with the last chapter of Luke’s Gospel.
This
is
the way I do my devotions. You may notice grammatical and spelling
errors. It is my hope you will also start or continue in your daily
reading and thinking about
the Scriptures. I do this Monday through Friday. It is a 3 year plan
of reading and thinking on 1 chapter in the Old Testament, which
takes 3 years, and reading and thinking on 1 chapter in the New
Testament once a year for a total of 3 times. So, I read through the
Old Testament 1 time and the New Testament 3 times over a period of 3
years. I
do this Monday through Friday and use Saturday and Sunday for other
devotions.
